Hewlett-Packard has announced a recall of more than one million HP Fax 1040 and 1050 fax machines in North America because the machines have faulty internal electric components that can fail, causing the machines to overheat and possibly catch fire. [More]

Ron in Utah tells Consumerist that he purchased what he thought was a brand-new HP printer, but ended up being more of a Box of Crap. The printer inside wasn’t just non-functional, it was so old that the warranty had expired. HP Customer service’s answer? Before they could help him, he had to fax his original receipt within thirty minutes GO NOW NOW NOW TO THE FAX MACHINE NOW! [More]

For three years now, reports The Tennessean, the owner of a solar panel company in Indiana says “confidential medical faxes” have been sent to him by doctors throughout Tennessee. His fax number is apparently very similar to the one for the Tennessee Department of Human Services, but although he’s contacted the errant doctors’ offices, as well as reported it to the DHS and to the state’s governor’s office, they keep coming.

Vonage has settled a class action lawsuit over its flaky fax service, but participants can only expect to see between $4-19 repayment. You have until March 2, 2009 to file a claim or an objection. [Bustos Fax Settlement] (Thanks to Klay!)

Nick has written in to warn us about a fake IRS scam that lately has been targeting nonresident aliens (e.g. teachers and researchers) working in the U.S., as well as American citizens working abroad. In the scam, which has been going on since at least 2002 (pdf), the target receives a faxed request from the IRS to provide his name, SSN, and pretty much every other bit of data you’d need to take over a person’s financial identity.

Joe used to work at a multi-million-dollar fax spam company. Since it’s illegal to cold call fax, here’s the trick they would use to start fax-spamming a company and be covered in case of legal action. It’s all about pretexting the secretary. Here’s how it works:

Verizon will pay $6 million to businesses in Louisiana, Florida, and Alabama for sending 10,145 junk faxes advertising its services. The Telephone Consumer Protection Act bans businesses from sending unsolicited faxes, and allows for fines reaching up to $1,500 for each violation. Verizon will pay class members only $625 per fax, despite their crack legal team’s best efforts to deploy novel and absurd legal arguments in Verizon’s defense.

Joanna thought she could send out two free faxes using eFax, but when she did, she got an email telling her she needed to upgrade. Purchase the paid service just to use the demo? That doesn’t sound right. She tried to connect to eFax sales chat to get her problem solved.